Citation Nr: 0500419
Decision Date: 01/07/05 Archive Date: 01/19/05
DOCKET NO. 03-05 488A ) DATE
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On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St.
Petersburg, Florida
THE ISSUES
1. Entitlement to service connection for a chronic
gastrointestinal disorder, including gastroenteritis.
2. Entitlement to service connection for tinnitus.
REPRESENTATION
Appellant represented by: Veterans of Foreign Wars of
the United States
WITNESS AT HEARING ON APPEAL
Appellant
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD
C. P. Shonk, Associate Counsel
INTRODUCTION
The veteran served on active duty from September 1974 to
March 1979, August 1980 to May 1997.
This matter comes to the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board)
from December 2001 and May 2002 rating decisions of the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) in
St. Petersburg, Florida, which denied service connection for
chronic gastroenteritis, and tinnitus, respectively. It is
noted that at the September 2004 hearing before the
undersigned Veterans Law Judge, the veteran withdrew all of
his increased ratings claims.
The appeal is REMANDED to the RO via the Appeals Management
Center (AMC), in Washington, DC. VA will notify the veteran
if further action is required on his part.
REMAND
In view of the Veterans Claims Assistance Act (VCAA), 38
U.S.C.A. §§ 5100, 5102, 5103, 5103A, 5106, 5107, 5126 (West
2002), evidentiary development is needed.
Gastrointestinal disorder
The veteran's service medical records indicate that in 1976
he was admitted to the hospital for acute severe
gastroenteritis. In March 1981, the veteran complained of a
stomachache with an assessment of gastroenteritis. In
October 1981, October 1985, May 1987, May 1990, February
1995, and December 1996, Reports of Medical History, the
veteran complained of frequent indigestion.
Treatment records from the Orlando VA Outpatient Clinic had
various notations concerning the veteran's gastrointestinal
problems. An August 2000 treatment report had an assessment
of gastroenteritis. In August 2001, the veteran stated that
he had experienced approximately 23 years of postprandial
pain, and that it began when he was in the military and got
food poisoning. The veteran described the problem as a
burning discomfort in the periumbilical and epigastric area
and a feeling like he overate. An assessment included
chronic abdominal pain that seemed most consistent with
nonulcer dyspepsia.
In November 2001, the veteran sought treatment for an
epigastric burning that had been occurring for over 20 years.
In January 2002, the veteran was diagnosed as having
gastroesophageal reflux disease, and a hiatal hernia. In
November 2002, the veteran reported that he had had a burning
pain in the mid-abdomen after a meal about 50 percent of the
time for up to twenty years.
At the hearing, the veteran testified that he had been
experiencing stomach problems ever since the 1976
hospitalization noted in his service medical records.
Though the veteran underwent a VA examination in November
2001, (which generated a diagnosis of gastroenteritis), the
examiner did not provide a nexus opinion, and the veteran
should be afforded another for that purpose.
Tinnitus
The veteran testified at the hearing that he noticed ringing
in his ears 15 years ago, and that he did not know the
ringing was called tinnitus until he left service. During
service he was around loud noises from gun drills,
helicopters, weekly inspection of the engine room, working in
the ship's office next to the engine room, being on the
bridge during drills with the 50-caliber machine gun, using
grinders on metal, and swabbing the bilges in the engine
room. The veteran did not remember using hearing protection
on the CGC Blackthorn. Additionally, the veteran's service
medical records contain an occupational history and medical
surveillance questionnaire, which states that aboard the
USCGD Steadfast a potential physical hazard to the veteran as
a ship's yeoman included noise.
Based on the reported symptomatology and incidences of
service involving noise, the veteran should be afforded a VA
examination.
Accordingly, this case is REMANDED to the RO for the
following action:
1. The RO should arrange for a VA
examination. After reviewing the
veteran's claims file, the examiner
should clarify the diagnoses of any
gastrointestinal disorder, and any
tinnitus, and provide an opinion as to
whether it is at least as likely as
not that any diagnosed
gastrointestinal disorder and tinnitus
are related to service. All opinions
and conclusions expressed must be
supported by a complete rationale in a
report.
2. Then, the RO should readjudicate
the veteran's service connection claims
for a gastrointestinal disorder, and
tinnitus. If the determination of
these claims remains unfavorable to the
veteran, the RO must issue a
supplemental statement of the case and
provide him a reasonable period of time
in which to respond before this case is
returned to the Board.
The appellant has the right to submit additional evidence and
argument on the matter or matters the Board has remanded.
Kutscherousky v. West, 12 Vet. App. 369 (1999).
This claim must be afforded expeditious treatment. The law
requires that all claims that are remanded by the Board of
Veterans' Appeals or by the United States Court of Appeals
for Veterans Claims for additional development or other
appropriate action must be handled in an expeditious manner.
See The Veterans Benefits Act of 2003, Pub. L. No. 108-183, §
707(a), (b), 117 Stat. 2651 (2003) (to be codified at 38
U.S.C.A. §§ 5109B, 7112).
_________________________________________________
JAMES L. MARCH
Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals
Under 38 U.S.C.A. § 7252 (West 2002), only a decision of the
Board of Veterans' Appeals is appealable to the United States
Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. This remand is in the
nature of a preliminary order and does not constitute a
decision of the Board on the merits of your appeal.
38 C.F.R. § 20.1100(b) (2003).